Aftermath
by fukaimoriMidori
Summary: Continuation of all my previous Eva Chase stories. Eva meets Zuko.


**After the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender. (Note this IS an Avatar **_**fanfiction**_**) I once wrote about how after Eva died in my Xiaolin Showdown fanfic, she was transported to the Avatar universe to "redeem" herself. She mostly allied herself with Zuko; I think the two characters are quite alike. They're both lost and searching for their place in the world. **

**Does anyone remember my story from a few months back; written in first person perspective, in which Eva is raped by Chase? (Torn) This is picking up from where I left that off.**

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"Fire Lord Zuko." She bowed deeply, as she would have for an emperor to her own country.

He was lying at the foot of a willow tree in the gardens of the Fire palace, his hair free from the formal court hairstyle. Looking relaxed and – she realised with a small shock – content. The night's sky was reflected in his sun gold eyes, making them look like the world's strangest jewel.

"Eva!"He started, as always, when he saw her. "How did you get in here? Where have you been? Why did you go? How – "

She held up a hand to stop him. "Wait, I can't answer that many questions at once. How, I sneaked past the guards. Where, well, a place. Why, I had no choice." She paused. "Anything else?"

"You're not answering me!" He didn't look so serene anymore, just frustrated. "Why are you always running off to some place, without any kind of warning?"

"Why do you care?" she asked, stung.

"I care because you're my _friend_!"

"Friends? Don't make me laugh," she muttered darkly, turning to leave.

"You're not alone Eva." He took her hand. She hesitated for a second, and then shrugged it off roughly. "If you'll stop pushing everyone away, then maybe you'll see you _do_ have friends. We're here. Not just me, Uncle Iroh, Aang, Katara, Mai – "

"Speaking of which." She twisted around to face him, but didn't meet his eyes. "How are things with you and Mai? Or have you broken up with her, and you're with Katara now?"

"Katara? What? No, I – she – _she's with Aang_!"

"I was just teasing you. No need to get so worked up."

"Don't try to change the subject."

"You know, I heard your ascension speech. You're going to build 'an era of love and peace'? " She _tsked. _"What's happened to you? I thought you were strong, Zuko. You should have held on to your anger. I didn't think you would get so weak."

"You sound just like my father and sister," he said quietly. "_Loving is not a weakness!_"

"Tell that to Chase." _I loved him and he killed me,_ were her unspoken words. She knew he heard them.

There was a pause. When it became apparent he wasn't going to say anything else, she turned to go. "I only wanted to see how you were doing. See if you were happy."

"I'd be happier if you could be." She started to walk away again, but he caught hold of her shoulder.

"Zuko, let go of me."

"Stop letting your past haunt you! Eva, you've got to move on, your time in that world is over and done with, you can start again in this world – "

"Move on? Start over?" She laughed and the sound of it choking with bitterness and hate seemed to cut like glass shards in her throat. "That's not an option for me."

"Why not? Why can't it be?"

"Zuko, if you don't let go of me right now, something _very_ painful is going to happen to you. How would you like it if I burned the other half of you face – "

"_Look at me!" _he yelled with all the authority he could muster.

Slowly, almost painfully, she turned to face him, but still, her head was bowed, as if he couldn't bear to meet his eyes.

He saw her clearly now. She was thinner, much much thinner, her skin seeming to stretch tightly over her bones. Purple shadows ringed her eyes and there were bruises all over her face and neck, some of the fresh while others yellowing.

"Who did this to you?"

She said nothing, but this time, he noticed her response; she bit her lip tightly, he saw how her muscles tightened.

"Why won't you answer me?"

There was one injury on her neck that he couldn't look away from; it looked like a bite mark, one of those things that Mai would give him and he would have to hide, embarrassed. But this one looked different, they were _fangs_. It couldn't be an animal's bite mark, it was too small, and yet the _fangs_ –

"Love _is_ a weakness, Zuko. I'm not going to tell you again."

"Chase did this to you?"

She flinched at his name. "Shut up."

"I thought he killed you! I thought he's in some other world – "

"Yes, he did. He is. You're lucky he is." Her voice was flat, emotionless.

"Then how – "

"It doesn't matter how! I go when he calls, I go immediately because if he ever finds out that I can come here, you will _all_ be dead. Your world will be dead."

"We can stop him – "

"No. You can't. I can't. Not even if we all worked together, not even if the entire world worked together."

"He can't be that powerful. No one can."

"He _is._ My powers increased tenfold when I came here, and I have never once defeated him in battle. Can you imagine what he would be like if he came?" She saw him shudder, for only a moment. Good. He understood. "He is insane. A genius, but insane. Someone like your sister. Only a hundred, no a thousand times more powerful and cunning. You can never hope to defeat him."

He knew it then. It wasn't her depression talking; Eva had always had a good judgment of someone's power and ability.

She raised her head; too quickly, he saw how the half-closed wound on her neck jerked open, a trickle of blood spilling out. He saw her eyes, the green orbs flat and glassy. Even though she was looking at him, he thought she wasn't seeing anything. Or maybe she could only see her nightmares.

"What does he do to you?"

She never blinked. "Whatever he wants."

He had nothing to say to that.

She smiled, and something a shone out of her eyes. For a second, he thought he saw the little girl she could have been.

"I'm happy for you all. Really, I am." Then her eyes grew sad again, and once more, she was the lonely girl he'd always known. "But you've just won a century-old war. You have to rebuild your world. I can't drag you all into a fight you're going to lose."

"So what are you going to do now?"

There was a flicker in her eyes. "I don't know. I really don't know."

"You don't have to be alone, Eva." He pulled her to him. She struggled.

"What would your girlfriend say if she saw you now?" she asked. He didn't slacken his grip. "Zuko, let go –"

"Eva, just _relax_. For a minute. Just one minute." He patted her back a little awkwardly, then rubbed it gently, like how his mother used to comfort him when he was younger.

He felt something warm and wet fall on his shoulder. It took him a second to realise they were tears. But Eva _never _cried.

"I'm just tired," she whispered. "I'm tired of everything."

"Eva, I – "

"Being strong all the time, living alone, walking alone, running alone, I'm tired of it all." She said it so quietly, he wasn't sure if he heard her at all.

"You don't have to be alone."

"I can trust again. I know. I can feel again. And I'll get hurt again. It's a human instinct to avoid pain, you know." She barely seemed to be speaking to him.

"But that's life. You've got to feel. It hurts sometimes, but it's worth it."

"Is it? Is it really, Zuko? Remember what it was like when your mother left? When your father treated you like scum? When you betrayed your uncle? Isn't it so much easier to feel nothing at all?" She sighed. "The worst thing is that I don't even know what I want."

He had no answer to her questions; he could only hold her tighter.

"We're only human," he finally said. "We're weak, but we have to try."

She snorted; whether because she disagreed he couldn't tell, but otherwise, she didn't make any noise.

They stayed in each other's arms for a long time; two souls, cold and scarred from the world, just trying to find peace.

_End_

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**I can't come up with a conclusive ending until I can come up with one for my life. **

**Dear Eva, this is your story? Are you satisfied now? Can you leave me alone now? Please?**


End file.
